AGM 2009
The Friends of Savernake Hospital and Community
Annual General Meeting
on Friday 24th April
Friends of Savernake AGM was chaired by the President Mr Ray White, he welcomed all the members and guests and presented the speakers saying how delighted he was to welcome The Rt Hon Micheal Ancram QC MP as our speaker, you can read a report of his talk below.
The Friends of Savernake Hospital were sad to hear that Lois DeLyle Turner is retiring from the Committee, Chairman Paul lefever presented her with a bouquet of flowers and expressed his thanks for ‘being a stalwart member of the Committee for many years.’
Her experience has been invaluable to the group, previously serving as Chair of the Community Health Council, always maintaining an interest in local health issues she is a keen supporter of savernake Hospital, and its key role in the local community.
Dr Tom Hanson spoke with great humour and warmth of his work as a Junior Doctor in a community hospital in Cornwall, he compared it with Savernake (where He and Dr Lucy Loveday were born) the only difference was that all room had a sea view. He warmly thanked the friends of savernake for the Bursary for Himself and Dr Lucy Loveday which helped greatly during their training, both local people they attended St Johns School in Marlborough.
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Michael Ancram welcomed the chance to vent his spleen at the AGM of the Friends of Savernake Hospital. A packed audience in St Mary’s Church listened as he explained his intense irritation over the frustrating issue of Savernake Hospital and the Primary Care Trust. He paid tribute to a line of fighters – from David and Goliath to the Dutch boy who put his finger in the dyke and now to Val Compton in her fight against the arrogance of Wiltshire PCT, who she had taken on single handedly with courage, determination and a touch of obstinacy.
Mayor Peggy Dow & Michael Ancram MP
Mr Ancram was concerned that should the PCT be proved wrong at the Judicial Review in June, they would say it was impossible to re-open the departments. However, he had been assured that both the Day Hospital and the Minor Injuries Unit had been mothballed in order they could be re-opened. He expressed intense annoyance at his inability to find out how much was being spent on legal costs as he urged everyone to keep fighting.
He referred to the decision to send patients for treatment of their minor injuries to Trowbridge, Chippenham or Swindon as being obscene and unacceptable, but the PCT seemed to be answerable to no one including the Secretary of State for Health and certainly not to MPs. He deduced that this was totally wrong in a democracy.
The furious MP stated the consultation undertaken by the PCT was a largely cosmetic and meaningless exercise, where everyone was ignored. He asked what the point could be of a consultation if there was no criteria involved that would dictate that if a certain proportion of the population say “no”, then it must be taken into account.
Wiltshire, Mr Ancram declared, had always been under funded on health issues. In this current economic climate he suspected that the PCT will argue they do not have sufficient money to run the closed departments, even if they lose the Judicial Review. This area had suffered from the RUH debts and he urged people to hammer on the door of the Treasury, to make them listen, if we are to see healthcare fit for this century.
Local provision of medical services needed to be accessible for local people. The Health Authority must understand what is meant by a Community Hospital – a place that encompasses social needs as well, a valuable local resource which will deal with patients, near to their own homes.
People listened intently as their MP told them that banging your head on a brick wall is painful. However, if enough people bang their heads for long enough, eventually the brick wall will fall down.
Member of Friends of Savernake showed their delight at the sentiments expressed by a long and resounding round of applause. Mr Ancram was thanked by The President Mr Ray White for fitting the Friends AGM into his busy schedule.
